Of Days Since Passed
by TheAzuraStar
Summary: Nothing could have prepared her for this future, but had she known what kind of outcome her decisions would have...she wouldn't have done any of it. This life, this pain...her choice was not worth it in the end. R&R, if you don't mind. Rated T for violence and drama, and a whole lotta angst later on. OCxOC
1. Chapter 1

**I know, I know. I have other things I should be working on instead of starting a new Warriors fic, but I had to do this. It's been nagging at me for days, this little idea I have.**

**The chapters probably aren't all going to be as long as this one, and I'm not even sure how many there will be. All I know for sure right now is the basic plot that this fan fiction is going to follow.**

**Anyway, this is an idea that I've sort of written out before, but never posted here. I hope you all enjoy it, and without further rambling from me, I present to you...Of Days Since Passed, chapter one.**

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><p><strong><span>~ Of Days Since Passed ~<span>**

**~ A Warriors FanFiction ~**

**~ Chapter One ~**

_The sound of furious screeches and caterwauls, the scent of blood and death, and the sight of deep red liquid staining the grassy earth...when had it come to this? This...this wasn't the future she had wanted. This wasn't what she had been expecting._

_This was wrong. So very, very wrong._

_The moon overhead was bright and full, if only it could be spotted through the clouds blocking it from view. No cat cared enough about it at this point, though. StarClan's anger wasn't going to be enough to stop this battle._

_The old she-cat, old enough to be an elder but not yet ready to retire, gazed down at her bloodied paws with an expression of horror tinged with despair. The body of the warrior she had just slain lay at her feet, still and unresponsive as the trees on a night of no wind._

_She'd had no choice. It was a simple matter of kill or be killed. She had only done what she needed to ensure her own survival._

_But she hated it._

_It was wrong on the deepest of levels._

_This poor warrior was hardly out of apprenticehood. She'd stolen his life from him before he even had the chance to experience everything the world had to offer. She'd murdered him._

_Had he even known love? The thrill of a passionate gaze, the tenderness of the lightest touch...?_

_Had she ripped that from him as well?_

_Her entire body shook with the force of her regret. This wasn't what she had wanted. This life...had she made a grave mistake in her choices somewhere along the line?_

_She already knew the answer to that. Of course._

_She knew exactly where she had gone wrong. And it hurt._

_It hurt, because she had loved that cat with every bit of her being. He'd loved her too, at one time._

_But that was long ago. That love had long since withered away and died._

_She should never had allowed herself to fall as deeply as she did. She saw that now, and regret and resentment thrummed through her. She had been so foolish! How could she not have seen it? How did it fly so cleanly over her head? She had been there at that treacherous tom's side the whole time, but she had been blinded by affection and love._

_But not anymore._

_Her lips curled back into a savage snarl._

_She wouldn't ever be deceived by him again!_

_She flung herself back into the battle raging ever on around her, claws extended and ready to slice through flesh. She delivered blow after blow to any cat that stood in her way, ignoring her aching muscles that begged her to stop and rest._

_It wasn't until she felt a solid body slam into her flank with great force and pin her to the bloody earth that she remembered just how old she was. She was far from defenseless, but she wasn't what she used to be, either. __The warrior's weight made it impossible to get up. Her body felt weaker, and she ached everywhere, from exertion and the injuries she had already sustained. It seemed as if this was it for her._

_The tabby warrior shoved his muzzle into her face, eyes narrowed to tiny green slits. "What's an old furball like you doing here? Shouldn't you have fled like all of the other useless cats?"_

_She felt anger surge up inside her like a storm. Flattening her ears against her head, she spat back without thinking, "Who are you calling useless? I may be old, but I'm anything but useless!"_

_She kicked out with her hind legs with all of the strength she had in her body, making sure to dig her claws deep into the tom's soft belly._

_The warrior stumbled back, breath caught in his throat from the pain._

_The old she-cat staggered to her own paws, drawing in panting breaths. Her age was definitely catching up to her, but she couldn't give up now. She had to see this battle through to the end._

_She didn't want to die here. She still had unfinished business._

_The warrior recovered faster than she had expected, and she had just enough time to dodge an incoming blow to the head. She had to move quickly to avoid it, but the drawback of moving that fast had her head spinning with dizziness._

_She felt her legs begin to tremble, and she wasn't sure how much longer she would be able to hold out. She was exhausted._

_Her enemy was able to sense what was plaguing her, and when he spoke, she could all but hear the smugness in his voice, "Done already, old furball? Is this all you've got left? I expected more from you..."_

_He circled around her menacingly, and she just stood there panting, wary of another attack but knowing she might not be able to do much against it._

_The tom went on almost casually, still prowling around her, paying little attention to the battle going on around them, "...after all, you're the infamous Shimmerpelt, right? I heard stories about you, you know. The elders always used to talk about you. They said you were a great hunter and fighter, they said you had so much potential...but you threw it all away to follow after some cat in another Clan!" He snorted in mocking laughter. "How pathetic. You were right to leave. RiverClan has no place for cats like you!"_

_She narrowed her eyes. She always knew that cats would gossip about her, that they would turn her into some sort of example on what not to do. Of course they would, because who had ever heard of a loyal warrior turning her back on her birth Clan to join another?_

_Apparently no one._

_She curled her lip weakly. "Don't talk about that as if you have the right to. You're just barely a warrior out of apprenticehood, you have no place to be making such statements!"_

_Those words seemed to infuriate the tom. Obviously he wasn't expecting her to backtalk him, and it showed on his face. Suddenly his paw lashed outward, catching the side of her head. It knocked her off balance and sent a fresh wave of dizziness through her, and she crashed onto the ground with her legs splayed about. She stifled a pained moan, looking up when a shadow fell over her._

_The warrior loomed above her angrily. "I'm done listening to the rambling of a deserter like you. You're not a warrior, you're just an elder whose time is finished!" The cat slammed his forepaws painfully down onto her shoulders. She saw him bare his teeth through blurred vision, and vaguely registered the fact that he was about to go for her throat. She closed her eyes._

_But he never did manage to finish her off._

_She was just about to give up, just about to lay it all down and accept the end, when out of nowhere, the weight pushing her down vanished. There was a loud screech that had her popping open her eyes again, which was cut off by a sudden choking sound that eventually faded into a horrendous gurgling. And then silence._

_She watched numbly as the body of the tabby warrior fell limply to the ground. Blood pooled around him._

_Slowly, with great hesitance, her gaze wandered up to her saviour, and her breath caught in her throat._

_Deep amber eyes, cold and expressionless, watched her silently. Dark silver tabby fur rippled softly as the cat shifted._

_Power radiated from every inch of that sleek body, muscles coiled and ready to leap into action at the slightest signal._

_She knew who this cat was. Oh, she knew him well._

_"Thornstar," the name left her in a hoarse whisper. She blinked softly, her mind and body suddenly aware and alive, as if possessed by a strange energy. She hardly dared to even breath, as if afraid that the moment would shatter._

_It was him._

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><p>Shimmerpaw gazed into the water, sharp green eyes focused and waiting. She had one pure white paw poised and ready to strike, held absolutely still above the running current.<p>

Fishing was a skill that required a lot of patience, so it was a good thing that this young apprentice had an abundance of it.

There was a sudden flash of silver in the water, and the grayish-white she-cat shot her paw down and brought it up again in a scooping motion. The fish hit the damp riverside and flopped about, before a firm paw planted itself down upon it. One quick bite finished it off.

Shimmerpaw picked up her newest catch and shifted it over to her other side, where two other fish lay on the peaty earth. Satisfied with her accomplishment, she carefully picked up all three of her catches and stood up.

She was sure her Clan would approve of her hunting. She'd spent all morning near the riverside, patiently fishing for prey. Her own belly was now rumbling with hunger; she couldn't wait to sink her teeth into something good.

It was as she was turning away from the river that something dark caught her eye. Turning her head to examine whatever it was, she stilled momentarily, and she felt her eyes narrow almost imperceptibly.

He was watching her as she was watching him. Neither broke eye contact.

He had dark silver tabby fur and deep eyes, amber in colour and very expressive. Those eyes were watching her evenly, almost curiously, as if sizing her up as an enemy. She almost felt her fur begin to bristle in response, but she made herself stay calm. He had not crossed the border, he was merely gazing across the river at her - as intimidating as that look appeared, he had not done anything wrong.

Yet.

Shimmerpaw narrowed her eyes at him visibly, finally losing patience and ending the stare-down. She leveled him with one last warning glare over her shoulder as she turned away, but quickly felt her eyes widen again as she saw a smug gleam enter his eye and watched the corner of his lip curl; he was taunting her!

Feeling irritated, the apprentice's fur rose fractionally, and she let out a growl. She was sure the sound reached the tom's ears, because that gleam in his eye became even more prominent.

Stiffly turning her back to him and resolving not to look back, Shimmerpaw trudged away from the river with her head held high. She would not allow some scruffy ThunderClan cat to get the better of her!

But even as she walked away, she could still feel the tom's gaze boring into her, and the image of his smug face flashed in her mind's eye. She stifled another growl.

Arrogant ThunderClan furball!

_'Cats from other Clans all think they're so great,' _she grumbled inwardly as she approached the RiverClan camp. _'But I won't be fooled by them! They're bad news, nothing more.'_

But even as she told herself that, even as she went about the rest of her day, Shimmerpaw still couldn't get the image of those smug amber eyes out of her head.

And as she settled down that night, curling up in her nest and drifting off, dreams of dark silver and expressive amber danced through her mind.

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><p><strong>Yay, it's done! Now I can go work on something else(maybe).<strong>

**I hope you guys enjoyed the read. I'm actually really fond of this idea, so I'll be more than happy if you like it too.**

**Feel free to drop me a review, if you feel so inclined. Tell me what you thought.**

**So that's all for now.**

**See you all later!**

**~TheAzuraStar**


	2. Chapter 2

**You know how I said in the first chapter that not all chapters were going to be that long? ...well, I lied. Hehe...this one's even longer than the first...**

**...**

**I do not own Warriors; just my OCs and the plot for this story.**

**Enjoy.**

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><p><span><strong>~ Of Days Since Passed ~<strong>

**~ Chapter Two ~**

After that day by the river, Shimmerpaw found that she was seeing a lot more of that ThunderClan tom than before. She wasn't sure if it was his doing, or if she was just subconsciously searching him out every time she left camp.

The second time she saw him was two days after that stare-down by the riverside; during the full-moon Gathering. Her Clan had just arrived and were waiting for the leaders to begin.

She was chatting with one of her fellow RiverClan apprentices, a light golden she-cat named Sunnypaw, but her attention kept straying from the conversation. It wasn't long before her green eyed gaze locked onto a familiar amber one.

Shimmerpaw felt her body stiffen, and the words Sunnypaw was meowing to her faded into the background. Suddenly the world only consisted of her and the silver tom; nothing else mattered.

The ThunderClan cat cocked his head to the side as he stared back at her, those expressive eyes capturing and holding the young she-cat in place.

Shimmerpaw didn't know what was going on in that instant. She just knew that she was unable to look away. His eyes...they were so bright and full of life. She was utterly captivated.

The moment didn't last long, however, and the RiverClan apprentice snapped back to her senses as she felt a paw firmly prod into her side.

"Hey, are you listening?" Sunnypaw's voice spoke in the gray-white she-cat's ear, and said cat turned to see her Clanmate looking in the same direction she had been. "What are you staring at?"

And when Sunnypaw's gaze landed on the ThunderClan cat, she adopted a confused look. "Who is that?" She asked Shimmerpaw, who gave a small shrug of her shoulders as a response.

"Don't know," she muttered, "just some ThunderClan cat I noticed by the river a few days ago."

Sunnypaw's eyes narrowed. "He didn't cross the border, did he?"

"No." Shimmerpaw replied, allowing her eyes to drift back to the cat in question. He was still looking in her direction, but he seemed...expressionless now. Like he found something on the displeasing side, and wanted nothing to do with it. She quickly tore her gaze away again. "He was just standing there staring the whole time."

There was a snort from her golden-furred companion. "And that's what he's doing right now." Her lip curled in distaste. "Come on, Shimmerpaw. Let's go find somewhere else to sit; I don't like the looks of him."

Without giving Shimmerpaw time to properly agree or decline, Sunnypaw was already padding off toward a group of apprentices clustered together a short distance away. The gray-white she-cat scrambled after her friend, calling out hastily, "Wait up!"

She didn't know what it was, but something compelled Shimmerpaw to cast one last glance over her shoulder. And she made a small noise as she did, one that consisted of surprise, relief, and maybe a bit of disappointment all rolled together.

Because where the silver tom once stood, there was no longer a soul to be found.

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><p>The third time Shimmerpaw saw the tom was on an early morning dawn patrol.<p>

Once again, he was on the opposite side of the river, but this time he was not alone. A few of his Clanmates stood near him, and Shimmerpaw realized that this was ThunderClan's own dawn patrol, coming to check on the border at the same time as her Clan was.

She almost hissed aloud at the timing of it all; what were the odds, that ThunderClan reach the border the same time her own Clan did?

The apprentice risked a glance at the tom. He wasn't looking at her. He stood next to a pretty brown tabby, the two exchanging friendly words between each other. It was like he hadn't even noticed the RiverClan patrol, chatting away without a care in the world while his other Clanmates busied themselves with marking the scent line.

That, or he was ignoring them.

For some reason that possibility sent a strong pang of negative feelings coursing through Shimmerpaw. The force of the sudden emotions nearly caused her to sink her claws into the ground and snarl, but she kept the urge under wraps. The only thing that gave away her sudden drop in mood was the slight fluffing of her fur, but that could easily be passed off as hostility toward the ThunderClan patrol in general.

It seemed that was how her mentor took it, anyhow. The powerful body of the reddish-brown tabby tom, Reedheart, turned toward her and he locked his eyes with her own in a stern manner, clearly telling her to calm down and let her fur lie flat.

Shimmerpaw obeyed with some difficulty, not having the will to protest.

It wasn't like she could tell Reedheart that the reason behind her bad mood was caused by one tom in particular; and a ThunderClan one at that.

Before long she noticed that the ThunderClan patrol was moving away from the river, and the silver tom still had yet to flash a glance her way.

She wasn't sure why that bothered her; she knew it shouldn't matter either way, but she couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed, and that fact instilled a feeling of annoyance within her.

She had to shake these strange feelings, these confusing and frustrating feelings that pulled at her insides in the oddest of ways. It couldn't possibly be healthy. He was a ThunderClan cat, for StarClan's sake!

But as she was trying to convince herself of this, trying to banish the intruding thoughts of silver fur and amber eyes, Shimmerpaw watched as that very tom paused in his step, and cast a single glance at her. It lasted only a heartbeat, if that, before he turned and followed his Clanmates out of sight.

And just like that, all of Shimmerpaw's thoughts flew away with the breeze.

On that day she learned that some part of her wanted the ThunderClan tom's attention. For a strange, unknown reason, she didn't feel right if he didn't even look at her just once whenever they met.

She wasn't sure what to think of that particular revelation.

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><p>The fourth time Shimmerpaw encountered him, she learned his name...and also saved his life.<p>

She was out on a solo hunting mission. In fact, this was her final assessment before her warrior ceremony, and she was betting everything on this last task Reedheart had given her.

She was to go out and hunt down whatever she could find in the allotted time. She had to bring in more than just fish this time, though. She needed variety. And while other species of prey were somewhat rarer and harder to find in RiverClan territory, she had to do it. She was determined to.

Nothing would stop her from receiving her warrior name and status.

Except for maybe the distracting tom who was currently drowning in the river. That may toss a rock onto her otherwise clear path.

Shimmerpaw had just been stalking a squirrel when a loud cry followed by a splash had startled the animal into fleeing up the nearest tree. She stared after it in disbelief before her fur bristled and she stalked toward the source of the noise.

It had led her to the river, and now here she stood, her green eyes wide and startled as she watched the cat in the water flail and gasp, trying to keep his head above the current.

The she-cat wasn't sure what had possessed her in that moment, but suddenly she was diving headlong into the river. She hit the water with a splash, and began kicking out in strong strokes. She swam toward the weakly struggling cat, who didn't appear to notice her, and sank her teeth into his scruff.

Shimmerpaw winced at his weight as she started toward the opposite shore, where he had obviously come from. He wasn't being much help at this point, now mostly just acting as a dead-weight. That made her question whether he was even conscious anymore.

She pulled him onto land with a grunt, and let go of his fur once she was sure he wouldn't slide back into the water. Letting out soft pants, she looked him over a few times, and her heart stopped when she realized that he wasn't breathing.

"Hey," she muttered, growing frantic, "get up. I just saved you, so get up." There was no reply to her words, and Shimmerpaw felt herself sway on her feet slightly. This couldn't be happening. She had just saved this cat, he couldn't possibly die!

"For StarClan's sake, get up!" She exclaimed fearfully, resting a paw on the sopping wet silver flank and proceeding to shake the tom, hissing when it did nothing.

Drawing in a panicky breath, Shimmerpaw moved to roll the tom over onto his back, where she then planted both paws firmly down upon his chest. With a frantic look in her green eyes, she pressed down. Then she leaned back for a moment and repeated the action.

In her hazed mind, she figured if there was water in his lungs, then she just needed to force it out. Then he would start breathing again and she could relax.

For several long drawn out moments, her actions didn't seem to have any effect, and she felt despair well up inside her. Until suddenly, the body beneath her paws lurched upward violently, and the tom started sputtering and coughing.

Shimmerpaw backed away, her eyes wide. She watched as he spat up mouthful after mouthful of water, before finally drawing in short, panting breaths and flopping onto his side where he continued to lay for several moments afterward.

When his breathing finally evened out into an acceptable rate, he groaned, momentarily curling in on himself before stretching and attempting a position sitting up. He still hadn't seemed to notice Shimmerpaw standing a few tail lengths away, so the she-cat took that opportunity to speak up.

Her initial plan had been to ask him if he were alright, perhaps see if he needed help getting back to camp or at least to a patrol that could take him the rest of the way. But at the last second, she felt herself grow oddly flustered and awkward, and something else entirely ended up slipping out of her jaws.

"Y-you stupid furball!" The unexpected exclamation startled the both of them, and as the RiverClan she-cat stood there with her fur bristling and eyes blazing, the tom spun around to look at her. "What in the name of StarClan were you thinking? You're not a fish; you can't swim! Idiot!"

The silver tom, still dripping with river water, stared at her wide eyed with his jaw hanging open a tad. He seemed stunned by the sight of her, but Shimmerpaw hardly noticed.

It was as if she were suddenly possessed by the spirit of an irate warrior ancestor; the look of anger on her face barely seemed like it belonged to her, though if a cat were to look a bit closer, traces of relief and fear were also to be seen in the green depths of her eyes.

"You should be grateful that I saved your sorry rump! I can't believe I had to jump in and save a ThunderClan cat from drowning!" Shimmerpaw snorted derisively through her anger, and glared at the tom.

The tom in question was either very oblivious to her rage, or was extremely good at adapting to the situation, because the next thing the RiverClan cat knew, the silver-furred tom was on his feet and facing her completely, a sincere look in his amber eyes.

"Thank you," he meowed, and even dipped his head as a sign of gratitude, "you saved me. I owe you my life." When he raised his head again, he fixed her with a look of such warmth that Shimmerpaw immediately felt her anger evaporate like dew in the morning sun's light. She felt her skin heat up beneath her fur.

"...w-what were you doing anyway? Trying to drown yourself?" She couldn't help but tack on the second question sarcastically, muttering. She lowered her head to avoid looking into those eyes.

"...I wanted to taste a fish."

The response had Shimmerpaw whipping her head back up. _"What?" _She could't believe her ears, and she leveled him with a look that held so much disbelief that he looked down sheepishly.

"Well...you RiverClan cats eat a lot of it, so...I wanted to see what was so great about it," he muttered.

His reply, for some reason didn't sit well with her. Not just because he was a ThunderClan cat what wanted to eat fish, but because she had a feeling there was something more. Something that this cat wasn't saying.

She could tell that the part about wanting fish was true to a point, but there was definitely something else going on here.

Shimmerpaw brushed it off for now, and fixed him with a withering look, all feelings of embarrassment pushed back to dwell on later. Because despite her inner suspicions, the fact was that he still nearly drowned because he wanted to catch a fish.

"So...what did you do, jump in after one?" Her tone was nothing short of scathing, and she found that it was much easier to maintain her composure when he was acting like this.

"No!" He denied vehemently. But he had done so much too quickly.

"You _did!_ You actually tried to catch a fish by jumping into the water, didn't you?" If this had been any other cat, she may have found it hysterical. But seeing as it was _him, _and he had nearly died on top of that, she didn't think it was funny one bit.

The tom recoiled. "...so that's not how you do it, then?"

"Of course not!" Shimmerpaw snapped in irritation.

He replied with an audibly mortified, "..oh. I see."

Shimmerpaw opened her jaws to make another sharp comment, but she was interrupted when she heard her name being called from across the river. She quickly turned to see Reedheart standing on the opposite bank, looking impatient.

"How long are you going to stand over there for? Your assessment isn't over yet, you know! Leave that ThunderClan cat be and get back here before someone else comes along and sees you!" The warrior's voice called again.

Shimmerpaw felt a pang of horror as she remembered her assessment. _'I can't believe I forgot about it!' _She thought to herself in a panic. She had been so fixated on saving the drowning tom that the assessment had completely slipped her mind.

"I'm coming!" She called and abruptly turned her back on the tom. Her paws had just hit the shallow water when he called out to her softly. She half-turned in response.

"Shimmerpaw, that's your name, right? I'm Thornfur." The tom, now known as Thornfur, dipped his head to her again. "Thank you again. I'm really grateful to you."

There he went again, with those warm and sincere amber eyes. Shimmerpaw felt her fur heat up in response, and she turned away from him in embarrassment.

"Yeah, yeah. Just d-don't let it happen again," she mumbled, her tone quiet. She knew he heard though, because an amused purr broke out from behind her. "I won't save you again if you do! I'm completely serious!"

And as she dove into the river and began her swim back across, she felt his gaze linger on her the whole way, right until she vanished into the reeds on the adjacent shore where he could no longer see her.

In the end, while she didn't catch enough prey to pass her warrior assessment that day, Shimmerpaw earned her warrior name for an entirely different reason. That night, the Clan celebrated her heroic actions as they called her by her new name.

That night, whenever she caught a flash of silver fur or amber eyes, she would instantly be reminded of Thornfur...

...and from that moment on, she always would.

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><p><strong>And done! Phew, that was much longer than anticipated.<strong>

**Feel free to drop me a review. They're greatly appreciated!**

**For now, that's all!**

**See ya later!**

**~TheAzuraStar**


	3. Chapter 3

**I do not own Warriors, just this plot and my OCs.**

**Enjoy!**

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><p><span><strong>~ Of Days Since Passed ~<strong>

**~ Chapter Three ~**

Sometimes Shimmerpelt would catch herself staring out across the river with a strange feeling that was akin to some sort of longing. Sometimes she wondered what Thornfur was up to at that very moment. Was it possible that he was thinking of her, like she was thinking of him?

These kinds of thoughts plagued her more than she cared to admit. The she-cat was well aware that they came from different Clans, and she would often scold herself when she caught herself entertaining those thoughts.

She was RiverClan. He was ThunderClan. There was nothing to be had between them.

Despite Shimmerpelt's best efforts, however, she found that it was difficult. And even worse, her Clanmate, and fellow warrior, Sunnypatch, was starting to notice that something was off about her.

Shimmerpelt had to start treading very carefully. She didn't want the golden she-cat to get the wrong idea.

Her heart lay with her Clan, and so did her loyalty.

That wasn't ever subject to change.

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><p>"They're accusing our warriors of stealing prey!"<p>

It was leaf-bare. And as per usual, the ThunderClan cats were making the claim that RiverClan was stealing prey from them. This was normal, since every year when the weather would start to turn cold and the river would freeze over, RiverClan was apparently weak enough to resort to petty theft. Or so was the forest-dwelling Clan's beliefs, at least.

Shimmerpelt found herself getting as irritated as her Clanmates over the whole situation.

Sometimes she thought the ThunderClan cats were just blaming their lack of prey on her Clan so they could have an excuse to raid their neighbour's territory.

Beside her, Sunnypatch's fur was bristling. "Those mangy squirrel-eaters! They have some nerve!"

Shimmerpelt shifted her paws. "They do this every leaf-bare. You'd think that after a while they would stop - since it's clear that we haven't been stealing anything from them."

Sunnypatch snorted. "They never learn. Blaming their own hunger on us...what a joke! As if we'd want to eat disgusting stringy squirrels everyday."

Now, squirrels did come into the RiverClan camp occasionally, when the patrols were lucky enough to come across one while hunting. Sunnypatch, however, was known for her intense dislike of them. She always said it was the stringy factor, but Shimmerpelt knew that her friend had only tasted squirrel once in her life, and she had just been unlucky enough to get one that had indeed been rather stringy and old.

That was enough to turn her off of them for good, and now she couldn't stand the thought of them.

Shimmerpelt herself wasn't overly fond of them herself, but she didn't stubbornly insist on never eating them. They were food, and when you were hungry, you had to take what you could get.

Her mind abruptly strayed off to a certain cat.

She assumed that Thornfur probably liked squirrel...he was ThunderClan, after all.

She wondered...did he think that she was stealing prey from his Clan? Was he angry at RiverClan? Did he think they were just a bunch of thieves? What if...what if she had to meet him in battle one day?

That thought was rather unpleasant.

Somewhere along the line, Shimmerpelt had finally admitted to herself that she felt some sort of connection with him - that she held a certain fondness for him. She hated the very idea, but she wasn't able to continue denying it.

So if she had to fight him over something like this...would she be able to hurt him?

Would he hurt her?

Suddenly she knew that if there was a battle between their two Clans, she wouldn't be able to function properly.

The thought scared her down to the core.

To think that meeting Thornfur in a fight would cause her to hesitate...

...she really hoped that she would never, ever have to face him with her claws and teeth.

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><p>The weather was getting colder.<p>

Sometimes Shimmerpelt could feel the wind blow through her thick pelt, and it would chill her to the bone. A lot of her Clanamates had taken to constantly sticking close to the underbrush or each-other; the density of being packed close to something or someone kept them warmer than standing alone.

Right now, Shimmerpelt was pressed close to Sunnypatch in the warriors' den. The wind howled above their heads, and as the young warrior looked out into camp, she could hardly see anything but white.

She could handle thunderstorms, she could handle floods, but there was something about a snowstorm that rubbed her the wrong way. She didn't like them one bit. Maybe it was because she couldn't see two fox-lengths ahead of her.

"This storm has been going on for ages," she mumbled out loud, and heard Sunnypatch's faint murmur of agreement from beside her. "I really hope the hunting patrol doesn't get lost out in this..."

Shimmerpelt was concerned for her Clanmates, but she was also relieved that it hadn't been her that was sent out into the raging storm. The Clan needed to be fed, bad weather or not.

...if there was even anything to be caught out there.

"They won't," came the response to Shimmerpelt's concerned thoughts, "they're being led by Raintail."

Raintail was one of the Clan's senior warriors, and a really good tracker and hunter at that. He as also the deputy's brother, and well-trusted at that. A lot of younger cats looked up to him; herself included.

Shimmerpelt led her head rest down on her paws as she continued to watch the storm outside.

"Yeah, they'll be fine..." she muttered, green eyes trying and failing to follow the paths of individual snowflakes.

She wondered if Thornfur was safe and warm in his own camp, or if he was out in this brutal weather, trying to aid his Clan...

* * *

><p>Shimmerpelt woke up the following morning to silence, and she realized that the storm was over.<p>

Lifting her head, the she-cat looked out across camp and saw that everything was blanketed in a fresh layer of snow. Getting to her paws and being careful not to disturb the sleeping Sunnypatch, she headed out into camp.

The snow was fairly deep and crunched faintly beneath her paws.

Struggling somewhat, Shimmerpelt fought her way through the white fluff towards a small group of warriors gathered near the edge of camp. She noticed that the deputy, Icefang, was in the middle of the little gathering, and that piqued her interest.

"What's going on?" Shimmerpelt asked as she got closer, shaking out her fur to rid it of some of the clingy snow.

"We're organizing a group to clear away some of this snow," Icefang replied, "it'll be too hard to do anything if we leave it be, especially for the younger cats."

The whitish-gray warrior nodded her head in response and then offered to join the effort. "I can help, too. More paws will make faster work."

* * *

><p>Clearing the snow took most of the morning, and by the time they were done, the sun was already well in the middle of the sky.<p>

Shimmerpelt felt so tired and weary after, that she almost flopped down where she stood when Icefang finally announced that they could stop. She panted lightly and plodded over to the fresh-kill pile, newly restocked with that morning's hunt.

Selecting a fish for herself, she spotted Sunnypatch standing over by another warrior. The two of them appeared to be talking in low voices to one another, and as Shimmerpelt made her way over, she watched, somewhat bemused, as the golden-furred warrior ducked her head in a way that seemed almost shy.

If her friend was anything at all, shy wasn't it. The fact that she was acting so timid right now was a very odd sight to Shimmerpelt.

The cat that was apparently making her friend behave this way was, much to her surprise, none other than Shadeclaw. Shadeclaw was known to be rather aggressive and he often kept to himself.

He wasn't very sociable, and Shimmerpelt knew that Sunnypatch wasn't overly fond of cats like that.

In the past, the golden she-cat had often clashed with the very cat she was acting soft towards now. Shimmerpelt didn't understand the sudden change.

"Sunnypatch," she greeted as she came up to her friend's side, "do you want to eat together? I'm so exhausted from clearing away all that snow..."

Sunnypatch seemed to grow awkward at Shimmerpelt's offer, and she glanced from the green-eyed she-cat to the dark gray tom standing beside her.

Shadeclaw took the opportunity to butt in, meowing in a tone that sounded annoyed, "She's already going out to hunt with me. Sorry." He didn't sound sorry, though. If anything, he just seemed irritated that Shimmerpelt had interrupted them. The way he was glowering at the gray-white she-cat wasn't very amused.

Shimmerpelt felt a surge of surprise mixed with slight anger at Shadeclaw's dismissive way of speaking.

"Oh, okay." She mumbled, backing away a step. "Next time, then." She blinked hopefully at her friend, and Sunnypatch gave a nod in response, looking apologetic.

Shimmerpelt watched the two of them turn and head off, loneliness stirring inside her heart. In that moment, she felt quite alone...almost as if she was being left behind.

But what really got her was the sudden, strong feeling of longing she experienced as her gaze lingered on the closeness between Sunnypatch and Shadeclaw...they walked close enough to one another that their fur brushed, and in that instant, all Shimmerpelt could think about was Thornfur.

How would it feel to have him that close to her? What would that kind of warmth be like?

...

It was then, there, and right at that very moment that Shimmerpelt knew her heart was in deep trouble.

It came to her so suddenly, so abruptly, just from witnessing her friend and Shadeclaw and whatever was blooming between them...

...she was in love.

She was in love with Thornfur.

A ThunderClan warrior.

* * *

><p><strong>...<strong>

**Okay, that's done.**

**It feels as if things are moving along quickly, I know. That's how this story is supposed to be, though. All in all, this fic shouldn't be too long in length. I still hope it's enjoyable, despite that!**

**Thanks to my reviewer:**

**- Les Miserabby**

**See you next time!**

**~TheAzuraStar**


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